>> a great system. i think she thinks it's a great system, too. >> she's staying in canada. a lot of big news for us. don't forget those 911 calls from newtown are coming out, so let's send you right over to carol costello. >> have a great day. newsroom starts now. happening now, arctic blast. >> anytime you have a snowstorm like this especially with cold temperatures, there will be ice, snow pack. >> temperatures plummeting 50 degrees. >> freezing. it was horrible. >> ice, freezing rain and heavy snow, a massive storm stretching from maine to texas. also, dazed and confused. >> i think that he had a great likelihood to be completely asleep. >> brand new details of the bronx train accident. was highway hip knows sis to

blame. >> he said that he was dazed on sunday morning. have you been able to talk to him about that? >> plus, health alert. there's people in north carolina have died from the flu. this morning reports of three new vaccines to fight the virus. and get your motor running. ♪ head out on the highway >> american automakers get an early christmas present. you're live in the cnn newsroom. good morning, i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. nearly one year ago, newtown connecticut was forever changed as sandy hook elementary school became the site of our nation's second deadliest shooting. today we'll get more insight when 911 calls are released this afternoon. last week a judge upheld a

previous decision to make them public. pamela brown is live in new york with more on this. good morning. >> well, good morning to you. that's right, at 2:00 p.m. eastern time today, the recordings of 91 calls made inside sandy hook elementary last december 14th when the 14509ing happened will be released by attorneys in newtown. there will be seven phone calls in total and the recordings will be about half an hour long. important to note here, these are just the 911 calls made to newtown police. not the calls made to state police. but of course this is very difficult for the families as you can imagine. anniversary is right around the corner. and the super in-teintendent e- the families and said like you, i haven't heard the recordings and they could be an emotional trigger. >> what could we learn from

these tapes, pamela? >> well, we'll learn -- we could learn more about what happened inside sandy hook elementary school. we could hear some of the gun fire of course that could be in the background. and is something that the judge said it's important to learn how law enforcement responded to the shooting. and it will be an opportunity to see how they responded and perhaps any changes that could be made. but of course on the flip side of this, families, the community in newtown are not happy about this. i just got off the phone with mark barden, his son, daniel, was killed during the shooting. and he told me we don't want to hear them. and i hope my children don't have to listen to them that. this is a unique case and deserves unique treatment. it's unfortunate they weren't able to see that. and he told me that he'll do everything he can today to make sure that his children are shielded from the media and don't have to listen to the

reportings, that he said the potential harm and children listening to it outweighs the definable good as he said. but of course the court ruled just last week upholding the freedom of information commission saying that the release of the audio recordings will assist the public in gauging the appropriateness of law enforcement's response to calls from help from the public. so you have the legal issue here on one side and on the other side, the emotional issue for these family, truly devastating for them. >> pamela brown reporting live from new york. and again, we expect those tapes to be released sometime this afternoon, 2:00 p.m. eastern we think. thanks, pamela. get ready for the arctic invasion. plummeting temperatures across most of the country from montana to texas, missouri to ohio. we're talking snow, ice, sleet, freezing rain. minneapolis could get as much as 10 inches of snow while places like ohio may get hammered with ice. and look at these drastic changes in temperature. dallas is predicted to have a high of 81 degrees today, but

that temperature will drop to 31 by friday. we have team coverage of the storm today. anna cabrera is in boulder and indra peterson is in the severe weather center. but let's start with anna. good morning. it is beautiful. >> reporter: it is cold here. yes, the snow is beautiful. it's piling up. you can see here in boulder the plows have been busy at work and we're expecting feet of snow in parts of the mount tain area. great news for ski resort, but creating avalanche conditions. the biggest story here is the cold. it is very cold. it's the duration of cold air that we're expecting. colora colora colorado hasn't seen it in years. teens tonight and tomorrow. we aren't expecting to sigh

above freezing temperatures until sometimes next week. so under all this snow is ice. very slick conditions creating treacherous driving, particularly in the mountains where we saw i-70, one of the main east/west corridors through colorado had to close down for part of yesterday because of so many accidents and because of the slippery conditions. the colorado department of transportation is now using a special ice slicer, combination of sodium chloride and magnesium chloride to treat the roads to try to make it as safe as possible. >> all right, anna cabrera live from colorado. by friday the storm could cause extremely dangerous conditions in some cities that aren't to used freezing rain, sleet and snow. shear a live look at santa lewis, expected to be hit by snow and ice tomorrow. dense fog there right now. dense fog here, too, in atlanta. let's head to new york, though, and eindra peterson. >> you nailed it, it is the threat of freezing rain that we're so concerned with. but more snow still expected to

fall anywhere from over a foot of though still in through colorado, even through minnesota. we'll still be talking about, yes, that heavy snowfall, but let's take a look at the system and where it's expected to go forward from here. now, this is what we were talking about, that freezing rain threat. where you see the pink, that's a wintry mix. what we're concerned with is that wintry mix could be not just sleet, but freezing rain anywhere from southern pougs porti portions back through texas. this is thursday at 9:00 p.m. and notice how the wintry mix spreads all the way into the ohio valley. likely the far north you are, you're just dealing with sleet. but notice we're still dealing with the system even through the weekend and there is a wave of it even behind that. so an ice storm is likely at this point in time. as far as how much ice? the national weather service offices in the region have varying results. so the forecast will be unique. we'll have to take a look as we get closer. half an ichnch of rain will tak

down the power lines. homeland security helping in mexico after a truck with radioactive material was stolen. it happened monday. the international atomic thrg agency says the truck was transporting the radioactive material from a hospital to a radioactive waste storage center at the time of the theft. we have more from mexico city. >> reporter: good morning. disturbing development indeed. we're just getting information from the national commission for nuclear security and safety who are of course central to this investigation. and here's what they have told us at this stage. the crime took place at about 2:00 a.m. local time. on the second of december. and the vehicle was stolen from a gas station by armed men in the town approximately 55 kilometers north of mexico city.

about a 45 minute drive or so. so armed men taking this from a gas station. and crucially what the commission has told us is that they think the men that took the vehicle were not aware that it was carrying nuclear material. so obviously a highly significant development that basically these armed men they think were basically just going after the vehicle itself and had no idea that the highly dangerous and toxic cargo that it was carrying and on that subject, it was carrying cobalt 60, which is used for cancer procedures. and has been described as extremely dangerous. it is taken in by blood and tissues, has a half life of around five years. but they did emphasize that the container that it was carrying in has that high mechanical resistan resistance. so they're certainly hopeful that this will not be released into the public. >> and just so viewers are sure of what it is, it kchcan't be u to make a bomb but can cause

people to become sick if exposed? >> reporter: there are various theories. it has been voiced as something that could potentially be used to make a fairly low level kind of dirty bomb. but at the same time, if it's in fairly small quantities, it's not particularly harmful to the public. but that said, obviously this particular cargo in the quantity that it was is judged as extremely dangerous by the mexican authorities. >> nick parker reporting live from mexico. thank you. highway hypnosis. you've probably never heard of it, but it might have played a part in that deadly bronx train derailment. a union representative says the engineer was, quote, nodding off before the crash and caught himself too late to slow down the train. those comments to cnn and other media outlets could be key to explaining what happened. but federal investigators say the union rep spoke too soon. now the nctsb has kicked the ral

union off the case. let's head to nic robertson in new york. >> reporter: good morning. that union has been kicked off. they have been told that they have shared that information, made their own interpretation of the interviews that have been given and that means that they won't be part of this ongoing investigation into the train accident here. what we're learning from the engineer's lawyer is that he says that this was purely an september, that his client had had a good night's sleep the night before. >> we had a major train wreck, five cars on its side. >> reporter: we're hearing for the first time from the firefighters as they arrived on the scene of sunday's deadly train derailment thin the bronx. this morning new details about the man at the controls. the train's engineer, william billy rockefeller. his union representative saying he was nodding off and caught

himself too late. >> he's extremely distraught over it and he feels for the families. >> reporter: in the minutes after the derailment according to a senior law enforcement source, rockefeller told first responders, going along and i'm in a daze, i don't know what happened. ntsb investigators say that tenured veteran driver was on the second day of a five day shift. >> the day was typical nine hour day. and these days were routine days. there was every indication that he would have had time to get full restorative sleep. >> reporter: his lawyer says he went to bed at 8:30 p.m. the night before and got up at 3:30 a.m., that his client had a good night's sleep. and is cooperating in every way. >> i think it takes a strong man to come down and be honest. and that's what billy is doing. >> reporter: on the question of the brakes, rockefeller had initially claimed according to a

source that they didn't work. >> we've determined that the metro north mechanical department performed a proper brake test prior to the accident train leaving the station and there were no anomalies noted. >> reporter: now the federal rail administration is expressing serious concerns about metro north's recent series of accidents. in a letter to the head of the mta saying four serious accidents in less than seven months is simply unacceptable. we've heard from that union representative and he described the engineer as being very emotional, said that the pair of them had been in tears at times clearly for the engineer realizing what has happened very traumatic experience and a lot of emotion is what we're being told. >> nic robertson reporting live from new york city this morning. still to come, celebrity she

have nigel la lawson takes the tap in a fraud trial. aerin mclaughlin live in london. >> reporter: that's right, lawson testifying that her former husband threatened to destroy her if she didn't appear in court. i'll have more about that after the break.

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checking our top stories at 17 past the hour, three people are dead in north carolina after they got the flu. health officials say all three people were at increased risk because they had underlying health issues. still, they're enkurping more people to get the flu shot. the advice comes as flu vaccines are getting more than

personalized. new options are available for people with allergy, children and the elderly. a co-host on curb appeal has died after a motorcycle accident. he collided with another vig. he was one of four co-hosts, each episode makes over the exterior of a house. he was just 38 years old. two skydivers dead after a midair collision. witnesses say they collided some 200 to 300 feet in the air. the impact caused their parachute canopies to collapse and the skydivers plunged to the ground. police in arizona are investigating. nigella lawson says her billionaire ex-husband threatened to, quote, destroy her if she did not testify at the trial of two former assistants. lawson is testifying today about the sisters accused of using company credit cards to make more than a million dollars in unauthorized transactions. all this while they were working

for lawson and her ex-husband. erin mclaughlin is live outside the court this morning. what went on today, erin? >> reporter: well, earlier this morning, nigella lawson arrived here at the courthouse dressed in black, her face expressionless amidst the flash bulbs of the world's media. she testified this trial that her former husband threatened to destroy her if she did not appear in court saying, quote, he had said if i didn't get back to him and clear his name, he would destroy me. of course this testimony falls the very public breakdown of their marriage earlier this year. she also talked about how difficult it is for her to appear and testify at this trial saying i felt i need to do my civil duties. she also talked about how at times it felt like she's been

the one on trial in allity, the defendants are her two former assistants. the prosecution alleging that the sisters charged over a million dollars to company credit cards, fraudulent charges that the sisters deny saying lawson habitually used drugs and knew about the expenses. so far lawson had not commented on the allegations. this is really the first time we're hearing her talk about this. >> did nigella lawson talk at all about the famous tabloid picture? the one where it appears her husband was choking her in a restaurant. >> reporter: not at present. the testimony is continuing, they just came out of a lunch break. the testimony will continue into the afternoon. her ex-husband did testify on friday. in that testimony, he talked

about an e-mail he september to lawson inning on th october. he alleges she used marijuana and cocaine and she allowed the sisters to spend as they liked. he backtracked on that statement in his testimony saying he was very upset when he september the e-mail, adding he was simply speculating as to what the sisters defense would be at trial adding that at no point in time did he ever see my bell ni lawson do drugs. >> thanks so much. still to come, chilling details about the crash that killed paul walker. casey wian is following that story for you. >> reporter: there is new video released that raises new questions about how paul walker and his friend died. farmers presents: fifteen seconds of smart.

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there are disturbing new details about the car crash that took the life of paul walker and his friend. the two were inside the mangled car for about one minute before the car burst in to flames. and in the video you'll see a lamp post crash down. it's already happened actually. and then a tree shake as the car hits it. and then after about one minute, faint gray smoke begins to bill l

bill low into the air. casey wian is following the story. >> reporter: when you look at that video,casey wian is follow story. >> reporter: when you look at that video, it raise as lot of questions. were they killed by the initial impact or were they killed a full minute later by the explosion that ensued. chilling new video showing the crash that killed actor paul walker and his friend roger rodas. you can see a light pole and tree fall, but it took 60 seconds between the time of the crash and the first signs of smoke when the porsche burst into flames. >> we've heard of heroic efforts to try to pull the men out, but it's that lonely 60 seconds of no smoke, no fire in the porsche carrera g 2 when those men were inside obviously unable to get out. >> reporter: autopsy results are complete but not released because of a security hold. investigators continue to search for answers about what caused the accident. they say they have not found any

evidence of a fluid leak from the car at the scene which could have indicated that the car became difficult to control. production on "fast and furious" 7 which walker had been working on at the time of his death remains on hold. shooting on the film had been scheduled to resume this week. but was canceled monday and tuesday. the studio declined to say when shooting would resume. devoted fans continue to grieve at the make shift memorial lining the street with mementos of the star. >> i'm just glad every time i saw him i told him i loved him and he said the same thing to me. >> reporter: the walker family has not the made plans for a mem or i can't service. they issued a statement expressing thanks for the outpouring of love and good will from his many fans and friends. they have asked fans to show their support by donating to his charity, reach out worldwide. paul founded the organization

with the genuine desire to help others and it's important to his family to keep his memory alive. universal pictures announced tuesday that a portion of the proceeds of the upcoming home release of fast and furious 6 will be donated to paul walker's charity. still to come, auto sales are surging big, black friday sales prop up the big three. could be a sign the u.s. automakers have made a big comeback. and what would this pretty i'm thinking the ford fusion... ho, ho, ho!....the what? i need a car that's stylish and fashionable... especially in my line of work. now do you have a little lemonade stand? guys, i'm in fashion! but i also need amazing tech too... like active park assist... it practically parks itself. and what color would you like? i'll have my assistant send you over some swatches... oh... get a fusion with 0% financing for 60 months, plus $500

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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. good morning. thanks so much for joining me. here are some of the top stories we're watching this morning at 32 past. the rail union is no longer part of the investigation into the train derailment because federal officials say it violated confidentiality rules after a union representative told cnn the train engineer was nodding off and caught himself too late to stop the crash. the union rep also said investigators are leaning toward human error as the cause.

temperatures across most of the country plummeting as a massive arctic storm system moves through the united states. freezing rain and ice expected to cause major problems. temperatures will change, too. like in dallas today a high of 80, that temperature expected to drop to 31 by friday. that's a 50 degree difference. and not in a good way. black friday helped lead u.s. automakers to a strong sales month. sales for the big three were all up compared with last november. and it's not all due to the door buster sales promotions. christine romans is here with the good news. >> automakers saw the economy is getting better and they think it will keep getting better next year and that is great for auto sales. when you look at car sales, it really gives you a clue into the minds of the consumer. you don't just spend $38,000 on something casually. you need access to credit, confidence about your job, a ro

reason to do it. very good numbers for november. 14% year over year increase for gm, that's great. ford, up 7%. chrysler, up 16%. and it wasn't just the incentives. there were good incentives. about $2500 on average was the incentive to get out there and buy a car. big advertising for black friday. a lot of people went to the showrooms, that helped. but this is really a recovering economy story. and pent up demand story. and you're hearing it from the automakers who are looking at the a good 2014, as well. their stocks reflecting it, too. >> absolutely. so the auto bailout was a good idea? we all remember back in 2008 when mitt romney said let detroit go bankrupt and there was a big partisan fight. so who is right? does the american public get money back? >> the american public has gotten all but about $10 billion back from gm. lost about $1.3 billion on chrysler. ford never took the bailout. be very clear. ford never took the bailout, it

was in a better position at the beginning of the financial crisis. but the u.s. taxpayer lost money on those two bailouts of chrysler and gm. but let's be clear. they could have lost a lot more. so there is what they have lost, that is just gm, but a lot of people say, wow, that ended up being a pretty good investment. gm since 2010 has invested $8.8 billion of either own money into 34 facilities and saved or created 25,000 jobs they say. and you have basically the auto have i in america right back where it was in 2008 before it all fell apart. >> all right, thanks so much. nearly one year ago, newtown, connecticut was forever changed as sandy hook elementary school became the site of the second deadliest shooting this american history. today we'll get more insight when 911 calls are released later this afternoon. a state attorney in an effort to shield the victims' families had tried to block the release, but

last week a judge upheld an earlier decision by a freedom of information commission to make those tapes public. suffice to say today will be a rough day for connecticut families. advice is a police and forensic psychologist and has written a book on school violence, threat management. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> should these tapes be made public? >> well, i think it's a mixed bag. on the one hand, you have the families who suffered tremendous losses and are dealing daily with the grief of that. and to have these tapes inflicted on them without any warning or potentially sprung on them would be, you know, traumatizing, retraumatizing. on the other hand, if there is some control that they can exercise over being exposed to them, that is there is ample warning, if they choose not to

have to listen to them that could somewhat mitigate it. and for some people, they may want to at their own time and in their own pace listen to some of those tapes in order to answer questions that they may have. so the issue comes down to one of power and control over being exposed to this potentially traumatic material. and for many people, it will be significantly traumatic and i think the issue is them having control over having to hear it. >> i will say i've covered many murder trials and i've always wondered why families sat in the courtroom and listened to every single grisly detail. and i used to go up to parents whose children were murdered and i said how can you bear this. and many of them told me we have to hear it. we need to know what happened for our loved one. >> that's right. >> this is a good thing for them. not to say every family feels that way, but there is another side to what you're saying. >> exactly. and there is a price to be paid for that. and that's where it's important to have support systems in place

that can help buffer that exposure to something that oftr. but you're right, there are many families and even first responders who may feel compelled to know exactly what happened and at their own time and pace with a sense of control to be able to have access to that can be an important part of that reintegration process, of that terrible information. >> and there are some things useful that can be gleaned from these tapes, right? wrou you wrote a book on school security. aren't you interested in listening to how the police responded to the 911 calls? >> that's right. understanding what exactly has happened is an important part of planning for the future. how can we better respond to these events, what happened, was there anything that we did well, anything that we could improve

upon. what can we learn to help other institutions when they deal with this, what are the factor ares that come up. so there is a tremendous wealth of information that we've demeaned alreademean gleaned already from the report released by the state attorney's office. and having access to some of this information for professionals and schools in other settings can be an important part of preventing and mitigating the devastation these events cause for the future. >> chris, thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead in the newsroom, highway hypnosis. what is that and why it could be partly to blame for the deadly train derailment in the bronx.

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highway hypnosis. you don't hear that one every day, but it could be partly to blame for that deadly train derailment in the bronx. the engineer supposedly nodded off just before his speeding train hit the curve. rockefeller snapped back to attention too late to slow the train in time. his union rep says rockefeller is traumatized. >> i know that he's been extremely traumatized and he was very distraught over the loss of life and all the injuries that occurred. and i know over the last couple of days, he's been getting his thoughts together trying to put it back together as any of us would. and that's what i'd like to say for now. >> so let's talk about this.

steven herrad, a transportation expert, joins us now. good morning. >> carol, thanks for inviting me. >> so let's talk about this highway hypnosis. it's been described as a condition where a person can operate a vehicle for great distances despite not remembering having done so. i can see people kind of rolling their eyes at that one. is it real? is that a real condition? >> this is real. this is real. and it's a real problem in railroad transportation. we have a different name for it in the railroad industry. it's called autumn behavior sin drone 37 you get so accustomed to certain automated tasks that you can go into micro sleep. >> the engineer supposed willy switched shifts recently and he may have been tired.

>> people use the term zoneded out, i fell asleep. i don't know. that's a tough question. i'm not a sleep expert nor am i a rhythm expert. >> so let me explain what he means by that. this engineer shift changed to a very early shift which means he had to get up at 3:30 in the morning, so getting up in the dark, had to be at work by 5:00 a.m.. and he just had to start work. it's -- i know because i do it, its eye very difficult to get up at 3:30 in the morning. although if i were an engineer behind the controls of a train, i might say to myself if i'm feeling tired, i got to tell someone. >> that's right, carol. but this is a common problem and actually the situation for the passenger engineer in new york city is much better than engineers on trains out west because at least the engineer in

new york city had a schedule. trains out west, the crew members do not get a schedule. and very often they do not have advanced warning of what time they're supposed to report for duty. so this is a real problem in fatigue management. >> so what is the answer? >> well, there is a lot of research that has gone on. i'm afraid to say that this is not a new issue, it comes up every few years when there is a major accident and a lot of suggestions are made and thend then it fades away again. a lot of research going back 20, 30 years and unfortunately today still about 30% of rail accidents are fatigue-related. and there are technologies that have been introduced that are required by federal law in many locomotives and trains particularly out west where there is a lot of dead slow time on the track where people fall asleep. but surprisingly 70% of those accidents that i already mentioned that are fatigue related have already occurred in trains that were already equipped with the current generation of alert monitoring

devices. so this is still and ongoing problem. there are a lot of suggestions being made, one suggestion is that we need to have some kind of stimulating environment in the locomotive cab. one suggestion has been to include music to actually have audio entertainment to actually keep people awake, keep people stimulated, keep people involved in their environment in the locomotive cab. >> steven, thanks so much for joining me. appreciate it. all new with the next hour of newsroom, it is a difficult and extremely dangerous job that has been riddled with problems. when a tsunami tore through the fukushima nuclear plant and led to the toughest nuclear cleanup ever. we'll get the closest any camera has ever been to the recovery work. a cnn exclus live ahesif ahead next hour. w that beats great mileage or being fun to drive. yeah, that'd be like someone being loud or clear.

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checking our top stories at 50 minutes past the hour. some of the 911 calms from the sandy hook shooting are due to be released later today. a judge upheld the decision to release the calls. 26 people were killed in that massacre last december. nearly 700 students at the university of california santa barbara will get a pill today to guard against meningitis. they've come in contact with at least four students that were kieg doo diagnosed with the illness. >> it can have a mortality rate of 10 to 30%. >> the six students were all diagnosed within a three-week period last month. two of them have been cleared to resume classes. bill clinton recently sat down with cnn and talked about his wife's chances of running for president, joe biden, and

his critique of obama care. >> is mrs. clinton running for president? >> i don't know. and i think, and she believes, that the country should spend at least another year working hard on the problems that we have. we have very serious challenges in american and responsibilities around the world. i think it's a big mistake this constant four-year complain. we need to deal with the business we have before us. >> what kind of president do you think vice president joe biden would make? >> if he runs and he's a nominee, i'll try to help him. i think the world of him. i think -- we've been friends. i first remember working with him when he was the chairman of the judiciary committee to the senate and i was a governor and he asked me to testify in a judicial hearing for him. and i had to file a testimony

because i had to go to asia. but i've known him for years and years. and i have a very high opinion of him. i care a great deal about him and i think he's done a good job for the president and for the country. >> is it because you are setting the way for mrs. clinton to run and, second, are the promises with obama care limited to the website? >> the answer to the first question is no. first of all, i said nothing about this. not one word until the president himself spoke. and it was obvious to me listening to him that he wanted the american people to feel that he had kept his commitment and that they didn't understand that he, in fact, grandfather in, that is protect, all the policies that were in existence on the day he signed the health care bill. that was done. but most -- but he didn't take

over the insurance industry in america. so, for example, today, less than 20% of those 11 million policies which exist in the individual insurance market even existed when he signed the bill. i was trying to be supportive of him. i don't think you can find anybody in america who has worked harder for his re-election or supported this bill or went out of his way to explain the bill to the american people more than i did. >> he went on to say he's not playing politics and fully supports the affordable care act. but he agrees the website must be fixed for people to figure out what options are available to him. let's head to the every glades national park. a sad story unfolding. dozens and dozens of whales are beaching themselves. it's not clear why they're doing this. this is dangerous behavior and they could possibly die.

we'll have a live report for you on the other side of the break. we'll be right back.

the new york yankees making a huge gigantic splash in free agency. this time scoring jacoby from the boston red sox.

>> you knew the yankees missing the playoffs for the second time in years wasn't going to set well with them. this time they're backing up the truck to jacoby elseberry. they signed him to a seven-year, $153 million contract. that's the fourth largest deal in yankees' history. and that means he's going to shave that beard. they have the no facial hair policy. turning on bleacher report.com. did you ever think about inviting your favorite pro athletes to your wetting. and that's what one couple did. they got a handwritten reply from peyton manning. >> that's pretty cool. >> the browns fans have had it bad since regaining the team

back in 1999. and one fan is using the browns' misery to get into the christmas spirit. ♪ do you see what i see ♪ a team, a team without a qb and a back who looks 63 ♪ ♪ and a back who looks 63 >> this guy goes on and on. it's called "an angry browns christmas." he's got some great songs in there. >> my people have a sense of humor and we're used to misery. thank you. next hour of cnn "newsroom" starts now. happening now in the "newsroom", a shocking revelation, the union rep for the engineer in the deadly train derailment says he was nodding off moments before the crash. just how bifg a problem is this? >> if i was to get 15 an hour, i

mean, you got to understand where i'm coming from, how that would change my life tremendously. my kids could have simple things like christmas gifts. things that people take for granted. >> she says a few dollars more in her paycheck would change her life. fast food workers like this woman planning to walk off the job tomorrow. all part of a push for higher pay. plus this. what's it like behind the wheel of the car actor paul walker died in? >> is it easy to do something stupid? >> you know, it is. it's just having so much power under your foot that, you know, things can happen. >> more than 600 horsepower, hair-trigger steering. was it all too much to handle? second hour of "newsroom" starts now.

and good morning. i'm carol costello. thanks so much for joining me. get ready for the arctic invasion. plummeting temperatures from montana to texas, missouri to ohio. we're talking snow, ice, sleet, freezing rain. places in colorado seeing major traffic backups with heavy snow and much more to come. minneapolis could get up to 10 inches of snow while places like ohio may get hammered with ice. look at the drastic change changes in temperature. dallas is predicted to have a high of '81 degrees today and expected to drop to 31 degrees by friday. that's a swing of 50 degrees. cnn's anna cabrera is -- indra petersen is in the cnn severe weather center. let's start in boulder.

>> reporter: it's the combination of the snow and extremely cold temperatures that are making for dangerous conditions. this is the mall, a popular place if you're familiar with boulder. we've seen a lot of people falling as they're walking this morning. we're talking to drivers who have said they've been slipping. even the department of transportation tells us it's tough to have effective de-icing during this kind of weather because the freeze point is just so low for the snow that they're putting down that de-icer on that it's an issue in terms of getting traction. that's why ire 70 was closed for some time yesterday because of the drastic -- teens for highs. single digits in the metro area. temperatures dipping to negative ten at night. the national weather service telling us this could be the

coldest stretch of air colorado has seen in years. and it's not just colorado really feeling the pain of this arctic air mass. it's really about a dozen states across the country that are at least experiencing some, if not going to experience a lot of these cold, icy, snowy conditions in the next few days. several inches on the ground now. we'll be here to watch what happens from here. back to you. >> many thanks. ana cabrera live in boulder. by friday the storm could cause extremely dangerous conditions in some cities that aren't so used to it. look what it's done in duluth, minnesota. it's covered in snow. now that nasty weather is headed south. indra petersen is here to tell us where exactly that storm is headed. >> reporter: there's a lot to be taking a look at. looking at colorado, there's more snow. another 16 inches is still possible to solve in through

minnesota. same thing. look at all of this heavy snowfall. and that's not even the main story. here is what we need to be watching. this is the system making its way south and pushing off to the east. we're concerned with the wintry mix. notice all the pinks. when talk about anywhere from southern portions of missouri all the way back through texas, we have a threat of sleet and rain. and that mix extended all the way into the ohio valley on thursday. and where you have the freezing rain in that pink zone, you have the threat for downed power lines and trees. and it looks like some of the national weather services are thinking that ice storm is possible. >> many thanks to you. i told you before the break about those 20 to 30 whales beaching themselves in southern florida. this is in everglades national park. we don't know exactly why this is happening. john zarrella is on the phone to hopefully fill us in with more

information. >> reporter: it's not common when they do this. but it certainly does happen. and where they are is a very, very remote area of the everglades national park on the west coast. a fisherman spotted them last night. several of them had beached themselves, several others were still out in the water. for folks out there, you have to understand, it is all flat out there. very, very shallow water. in some places less than a foot deep at low tied. and even at high tied you may not get more than 3 or four feet, if that the. right now there are volunteers that are out there, national park service folks, fish and wildlife biologists are headed out to the scene, if not already there, to try to see if they can encourage the whales that are still out in the water to get into the deeper water hopefully when the tide comes up if it hasn't already come up.

and they were able to managed to get some of the beached whales off of the beach before they expired. >> how would they get them off the beach? it would seem to be an insurmountable task. >> reporter: they're bill whales, but not enormous whales. with enough people, they're able to move them back into the water and try to coax them by holding them up. i've seen this done. it can be done. and it certainly is a tedious job. and sadly, in many cases these whales do expire before it's accomplished to getting them into deeper water. but there's a major rescue effort underway now. and it's a very remote area of the park over on the west coast and only accessible by boat. >> you said that biologists would try to coax them back into the ocean. how do they do that? >> reporter: literally, it's just by force.

they're grabbing them, a bunch of people are holding them. they're trying to point them in the right direction. they try to hopefully orient them so they can get them into deeper water. in some cases it's just literally walking them out to the deeper water. and once they do that, they are then able to hopefully keep them going in that direction. a lot of times they just turn around and dolphins do the same thing and come right back to shore and rebeach themselves. and of course, scientists, biologists are still unclear as to what it is that ultimately leads to these whales and dolphins, you know, beaching themselves. whether it's viral. whether it's environmental. nobody knows what the cause is when you see something like this happen. but they're working very hard to at least try to save as many of these whales as they can. >> many thanks to you.

this just in to cnn. a female passenger on sunday's derailed train in new york has filed a train against the me troet north. her client suffered a fractured spine, a broken collarbone and several broken ribs. this claim comes with the question about the highway hypnosis that can could have caused in this derailment. a union rep said he caught himself nodding off. it could be key to explaining what happened. but federal investigators say the union rep spoke out of turn. and now the ntsb has kicked the rail union off the case. earlier this morning a former ntsb director weighed in on the crash saying that fatigue is a real danger in the industry. >> fatigue is an insidious issue. because it's not easily documented. it tends not to have a high

priority on the part of either management or on the part of the operators, the unions. because you get -- sometimes you get paid extra for working later or working longer. so it is a tough issue. i think management has started to focus on it. but it really is a personal responsibility of the operator. >> the derailed train's driver is scheduled to talk to ntsb investigators today. a difficulty ahead for the family of the victims of last year's massacre in newtown, connecticut. 911 tapes are scheduled to be released later this afternoon afternoon. a judge ultimately agreed with a ruling by a state freedom of information commission. cnn will air some of those calls but will not be there for the one-year anniversary next saturday out of respect for the families. still ahead, an exclusion sift look inside one of

deadliest nuclear disasters in history. cnn gets ex-exclusive access inside the fukushima nuclear plant. program that lets you earn free nights in any of them. plus, for a limited time, members can win a free night every day. only at hotels.com the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ [ female announcer ] can you bridge a divide with a fresh baked brownie? ♪ yes! yes you can. bake the world a better place with nestle toll house. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke.

for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising,

or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto® and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com.

a truck filled with radioactive material and stolen from a town near mexico is now the subject of a search by the u.s. homeland security department and mexican authorities. the material is used in medical treatments. but as cnn's nick parker told me, there are other potential concerns. >> reporter: it is something that has been voiced as something that could potentially be used to make a fairly low-level kind of dirty bomb to be honest with you. but at the same time, if it's in fairly small quantities, it's

not particularly harmful to the public. but that said, obviously this particular cargo in the quantity that it was is jumed as extremely dangerous by the mexican authorities. >> they say they believe the suspects were only after the truck and had no idea that it was carrying toxic material. fast food workers take their fight for a minimum wage hike nationwide tomorrow. there have been a number of protests over the last year beginning in new york and spread to other cities. but tomorrow's is being build as the biggest yet for the campaign. alison kosik is here with more on this. >> reporter: a year after they started those strikes, they're returning here to new york city tomorrow. they're across the country to cities like chicago, l.a. and denver. they're demanding that federal minimum wage go from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour. >> living on $7.25, you cannot

do it. >> this is what minimum wage looks and sounds like. >> i would rather sacrifice my meal and my husband would too to make sure my kids can have what they need. >> reporter: they are fast food workers struggling every day. >> how can you live on $7.25? you couldn't pay your apartment. if you have a family of may be zero, you could support yourself. if you have a family, two kids, a wife, where you live at? underneath the bridge? yes. that's not right. >> reporter: the median pay for fast food workers is $9 an hour or $18,720 a year. >> they're taking these because they're desperate to go to work. >> reporter: this man lost his job a few years ago. now 58 with two children headed

to college, he works at kentucky fried chicken in new york earning $7.25 an hour. he also works a night shift as a forklift operator at kennedy airport. he moved his family to another state and is trying to sell his house. >> for me, it's tough. real tough. i can't do none of the things that i used to do. i used to able to pay my mortgage, able to pay my car payment, able to take my family out to dinner. now we had to cut it out and sacrifice a lot of stuff. >> reporter: he'll take to the streets in new york this thursday to take part in a strike which demands that the federal minimum wage be raised to $15 an hour. the protests have expanded since last november when 200 fast food workers staged a one-day strike at more than 20 restaurants in new york city. and this past july, there were protests across the country. >> once the nation is hearing

it, you know, we've been striking all over the country so people are getting an understanding, they're seeing the light of what is going on. >> reporter: but the industry says it has created jobs in this difficult economy. in response to the strikes, the national restaurant association said in a statement, dramatic increaseness a starting wage such as those called for in these rallies will challenge the job growth history, increase the prices for restaurant meals, and lead to fewer jobs created. >> half of all americans make $26,000 a year or less. so this fast food worker movement possibly will do the same thing that the industrial workers did to our economy in the 1930s and '40s. >> reporter: now, these protests seem to be having an impact. even though a 15 dollar federal minimum wage could be a long ways off of becoming a reality. we've been talking to people

since they started these. a couple told us they were promoted to full-time, and another said they were able to get more hours. so the protests at least are resonate inning that way. >> i was just going to ask you, do people fear theelz lose their jobs? but it doesn't sound like that. >> reporter: exactly. they're worried about that. but in the end they want to get out there and state their case. this is just a huge growing problem. you look at what's been happening since the recession. during the recession, we lost more than 8 million jobs. laults of them haven't come back. many people over the age of 25 have to take these minimum wage jobs just to make ends meet. and now there's a trend that six of the ten fastest growing jobs over the next decade, these are low paying jobs. these are home health aids, veterinary technicians. a lot of people trying to make

ends meet on a minimum wage of $7.25. >> still to come in the "newsroom", new safety concerns about the exotic car that paul walker was ride inning when he died. >> it's like kind of taming a wild animal. if you were taming a wild animal, you would be afraid of it. >> we'll talk to an expert about why that porsche in a deadly crash may be too dangerous to drive. [ female announcer ] we give you relief from your cold symptoms. you give them the giggles. tylenol cold® helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol cold®.

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breaking news has to do the celebrity chef nigella lawson. a fraud trial is now under way in london. and there are alsos that she used cocaine and marijuana and that's why these two sisters were able to extort money from their family. she's on the stand testifying. this is the latest testimony. she said, she admitted to using cocaine twice. one with her late husband, john diamond when he learned his cancer was terminal in order to give him, she said, some escape from his treatment. and once in july of 2010 when felt subject to terrorism by her then husband charles saatchi. as you know, he's the ex-husband. the famous tab lloyd shot where he had his hands around her throat. she also testified that she felt he bullied her through her

marijuana and attempted to force her to testify in this trial to save his own reputation. erin mclaughlin has been listening to the testimony and joins us now with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. that's right of the celebrity trichef nigella lawson admitting that she used cocaine on two separate occasions. once with her late husband john diamond when he learned that his cancer was terminal in order to give him, quote, some escape from his treatment. and once in july, 2010, when she felt subject to, quote, terrorism by her then husband charles saatchi. this admission is counter to the claims of the two former assistants on trial. they claim that he habit actually used drugs. facing charge by the prosecution of allegedly abusing saatchi

krardss as much as amillion dollars. but clearly this portrait that the defendants have painted, the defense has painted so far of the celebrity chef as a-ha bit wall drug user, she's clearly countering those a littles in that statement. >> let you get back to the court. it's been more than two and a half years since japan's fukushima nuclear reactor was badly damaged in a tsunami. we were granted access inside the plant. it's the closest a journalist has ever been allowed to the recovery work. >> reporter: we are here inside reactor 4 of the fukushipuck -- in here where there was that massive high dwroe jen explosion that severely damaged the

building. but this was the least damaged of the four reactors because it was under maintenance and wasn't actually operating. now two and a half years later, tepco says it reached a milestone. that massive crane behindny is removing 1500 fuel rods in that cooling pool to a storage pool next door. it's a slow and delicate process that will take about a year. but once finished it will mean that this reactor can be decomixed. attention will then turn to reactors 1, 2, and 3 that suffered far worst damage. the situation there is serious and the levels of radiation are dangerously high. they've begun removing debris but the clean upinside the reactors is a long way off. it won't be decomixed for at least 40 years. as for the future of nuclear power in japan, no one really

knows. more than 50 reactors have been shut down with the public very concerned about their health and safety. but japanese prime minister is pushing to re-open them, believing that japan can have a safe nuclear future. cnn, fukushima, japan. >> still to come, as the one year anniversary of the sandy hook elementary school tapes are set to release later today. it's over objections from some of the victims' families. we'll talk about that next. and it's fun to drive. well you know that beats great mileage or being fun to drive. yeah, that'd be like someone being loud or clear. we need to slap the slippery fish right in the gill hole! happy time feed bag! frog face! cement leg! that's weird. i like "and" better. yeah. "and" is better. the twenty fourteen ford edge. only ford gives you ecoboost fuel economy and a whole lot more.

go further. life with crohn's disease ois a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps come back? what if the plane gets delayed? what if i can't hide my symptoms? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisinfo.com to get your complimentary q&a book, with information from experts on your condition. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk.

but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto®

and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. for more information and savings options, i see a world bursting with ideas, with ambition. i'm thinking about china, brazil, india. the world's a big place. i want to be a part of it. ishares international etfs. access to developed markets, emerging markets and single countries. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. good morning, i'm carol costello, thanks so much for joining me. taking a look at our top stories. celebrity chef nigella lawson has admitted to using cocaine twice. once when her late husband was dying and one other time years later after, quote, her ex-husband terrorized her. she testified in a trial of the two sisters accused of stealing money. a large group of whales

stranded in the everglades national park. florida wildlife officials and state parks are trying to rescue the whales much ten have beached themselves. four of them have now died. but rescuers have managed to get the others back into the water. they say it may take a few more days to get them to move. temperatures plummeting as a massive arctic storm system moves through the united states. snow, ice, freezing rain expected to cause major problems. dallas, today a high of 08. but temperatures there expected to drop to 31 degrees by friday. that's a 50-degree difference, so brace yourself. they are the calls so many do not want to hear. and now, today, after a long legal battle, the 911 tapes from the sandy hook elementary school massacre will be released to the

public this afternoon. a judge ruled they should be released upholding an earlier decision saying there's no legal basis to keep them private. pamela brown and paul callan are here to talk about this. good morning. pamela, i want to start with you. because you just talked to the father of one of the sandy hook victims. how is he feeling this morning knowing that the tapes are going to be released? >> he's very upset about this. and he told me that he believes it's unfortunate. and he's going to do essentially everything that he can to shield his children from listening to the tapes today. so he's going to protect his family by basically avoiding the media. and he told me, he says, we don't want to hear them. i hope my children don't have to listen to that. this is a unique case and deserved unique treatment. it's unfortunate that they weren't able to see that. and he also told me that the potential harm and children listening to it outweighs any

definable good we can think of. and this is from mark barden. his son was killed during the shooting spree. and it seems like that is sort of the consensus among the families in newtown today. >> paul, reportedly only land line calls from inside the school will be released. what kind of restrictions are there on other types of calls like calls from cell phones? >> i think eventually the cell phone records will be released as well. the reason for the disteengs is that the lawsuit was directed at local police. most of the cell phone calls were diverted to the state police. that's a separate state agency and would be subject to a separate lawsuit to get the tapes. under most freedom of information act laws, as long as there's not an ongoing criminal

investigation that will be compromised, the law requires release. >> as a jern lift, just to be transparent here, i like transparency. i think it's important that we hear them. it will tell us at least about police response time. and maybe these tapes can help us. is that a valid argument? >> it is. and it's the reason these freedom of information laws exist. we want our government to be transparent and want people to understand how the case was investigated. i understand the state's attorney is opposing release because he he's concerned about the emotions and feelings of the families. but the law incident build that in. there's no section on not releasing things because it will cause anguish to families. if they're legitimate public records they have to be released. i think the court has ruled properly. i think the press should be sensitive how this is handled.

but it is of public record. >> pamela brown, you'll be tasked with that later this afternoon. how will you approach it later at 2:00 p.m. eastern. >> like paul stated, it's important to exercise sensitivity and only air, broadcast and talk about what is necessary to achieve the good that can come from this. as you pointed out, how did law enforcement respond? did they respond appropriately? what did they do well? what can be improved upon? >> thanks so much for providing insight this morning. we appreciate it. still to come, its incredible speed is street legal. but some experts are sounding the alarm about the porsche carrera gt say it's simply too dangerous to drive. ♪

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production on "fast & furious 7" now on hold following the death of paul walker. the 40-year-old actor died along with a friend, roger rodas, in a fiery crash last weekend. autopsy reports also on hold. the latest movie in the blockbuster series was set for release next july. universal pictures says it will donate some of the proceeds to the last installment to charity. they were driving a 2005 porsche carrera like this one. it's not necessarily a race car, but it's about the closest you can get to a race car and still be street legal. but it may be so powerful that it becomes difficult to drive.

we went for a test drive. >> reporter: riding in a porsche carrera gt is simply visceral. so low to the ground. i'm at once exhilarated and car sick. it's like flying on the road and it is terrifying. but strangely, fun. so we're going out for a bit of a joy ride? i'm the lucky passenger in this porsche. he's an attorney by day and amateur driver by night. one of the few owners of the nearly 13002005 carrera gts ever made. >> it's more of a zero to 100 time that's more impressive, it's under seven seconds. the steering is so tight and

response. there's almost nothing like this in terms of road feel. >> reporter: top speed, 208 miles per hour. this super car has been souped up from 612 horsepower to 660. >> reporter: is it easy to do something stupid? >> you know, it is. it's just having so much power under your foot that, you know, that things can happen. there can be a loss of control. >> reporter: he doesn't know what happened in actor paul walker's car crash. but being the owner of the exact same vehicle, he guesses it might be this. a cold car, cold tires, not race track conditions. was it a super car simply pushed too hard on a city road that it was never designed for. >> whoever was driving went beyond the cape billtive the adhesion of the tire. >> reporter: when you say "adhesion," what do you mean by that? >> the tire is not connected to

the road. >> reporter: in some respects, are you afraid of this car? >> yeah, you really have to be with this car with all of the power that it has. you have to be reserved and restrain yourself. i mean, it's like kind of taming a wild animal. and so if you were taming a wild animal, you would be afraid of it. you have to be afraid of it to be safe in the car. >> reporter: the line between the thrill and real danger. >> let's head back to the everglades for a breaking story. i've been telling you about the whales stranded in the everglades national park. florida wildlife officials are trying to rescue them. about two dozen had in the water and they appear to be confused. four of the beached whales have died. but rescuers did manage to get

other whales that had come onto the shore back into the water. we're joined now by phone from an expert from miami. blair, why are these whales doing this? >> we don't know. and that's something we're going to try to find out. once we do a thorough assessment of what's going on, we have our first team of responders getting on site this morning. it is a very, very remote area. it's on the western boundary of the everglades national park. the closest -- you have to get there by boat. it takes about an hour and a half. and as i said, i just heard back from our first team who says there are a total of 49 whales. four are dead on the beach. and the remaining 45 are still alive and free swimming nearby. >> these are pilot whales, right? are they friendly? do they trust humans?

>> these are pilot whales and most common species of whales that mass transs in florida. they stay very close together. even if we have one or two pod members that are sick or ill that beach themselves, the others typically will remain close by or beach themselves as well just to be with the other group. so these animals are very far from their natural has been tant. they're deep water species. and the closest deep water is literally miles and miles away. may be 25 to 30 miles. we don't know why they're there. and our teams are doing their best to assess the live animals and see what our options are. >> let's talk about the options. so biologists have just arrived on the scene. their mission is to coax them back into the deep water.

how do they do that? >> well, their mission is really to assess the situation to see what is in the best interest of the animals and what's feasible with the resources and logistics that we have. they're free swimming from what we're hearing. i'm not in direct contact with the team. but it doesn't look like the animals are in a situation where they can be obtained by hand. the live animals, they may not -- we may not be able to get them offshore into their normal habitat. we may have to do other things, such as remove the dead animals from the beach or move them out of visual sight to see if they'll move on their own. there's a few deep water channels that they can navigate through. but it will be difficult. the outcome is very uncertain

and the resources are very limited on what we can do. >> we really -- >> i'm waiting to hear back to get a better idea and hopefully know more in a couple of hours. >> thank you for your efforts and thank you for being with us this morning. still to come in the "newsroom", the flu turns deadly in north carolina. i'll talk with an infectious disease expert about what you can do and should do to protect yourself. [ male announcer ] at humana, understanding what makes you different

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homes, the number of homes that are selling is like what we see in the summer months. you usually see these slow down in in the winter months. and this is despite higher mortgage rates. they've been ticking higher. you may be seeing americans getting out there and trying to buy new homes now because the worry is that the fed may look to raise interest rates. one thing to keep in mind, new home sales only account for about 10% of the overall housing market. but this sort of creates a domino effect. when these go up, that creates a lot of employment. construction workers. and once they move in, they're going to lowe's and home depot and buying stuff. once again, home sales up 25% from september. >> thanks for that little bit of sunshine this morning. i'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this duracell truck

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there's no obligation. one reverse mortgage is a quicken loans company. their licensed experts can answer all your questions. call to find out what a great solution this can be. don't wait, call now! health officials in north carolina con if i wering three adults have now died of complications from the flu. the first flu deaths in a year in that state. we have an expert here with us from nashville. good morning. >> good moung. >> so when you hear these things, it's pretty scary. people die from the flu every year, we hear. will this year be particularly

bad? >> well, it's difficult to know because we're still very early in the season. it's important to realize that the flu season has come very much earlier than what we would typically see. often we see it late december, early january. so these deaths are very telling for us that we may have an early season and potentially a deadly one. >> and do we know what strain of flu it is? >> right now we know it's inflew enza a. and that's the most common form that we see in the united states. and while there are different strains, we don't have any evidence that somehow this has escaped from our vaccine or wouldn't be preventled by our normal vaccines this year. >> i was talking my team earlier this morning and more than one said they were not going to get the flu shot because they were afraid it would make them sick. i keep telling them it's a myth but they don't believe me. >> it's a common myth that

continues to be out there. what we know, in the way we make that flu vaccine, it's physically impossible to get the flu from it. what you can get, is the feelings of your immune response gearing up. and yes, you can have fever and muscle aches and feel poorly for a few hours. but if i had to choose between that and having the flu, that's an easy choice. >> the other thing is members of my team are fairly young, they're healthy. these peoples who died in north carolina had underlying medical conditions and they were more at risk from dying from the flu. but please, tell me team members that they should take that flu shot anyway. >> well, we learned it in 2009 during the pandemic. we certainly learned it throughout human history. that the flu, while it targets those with underlying medical conditions, what we know is that it disportion atly affects those

who are young. and even young adults can have very severe effects from the flu. and they can get bacteria infections following that. and in 1918 when we had the worst pandemic of the flu, it was really the young adults and adolescents who were affected the most. >> can you tell us about the three new vaccines? >> historically there were those who could not simply get the vaccine because they were allergic to eggs or egg proteins. now for the first time we have one that can be given to those allergic to weg eggs. and now we have an expansion of the strains that are available in our vaccines. so instead of covering against three stranlz we protect against four. and it can be given in higher doses to those who are older.

and it doesn't have to be given as a shot. it can be givens a nose spray for those who may be a little needle phobic. >> thanks so much for coming in. >> absolutely. >> and thank you for joining me today. i'm carol costello. "legal view" with ashleigh banfield starts now. >> well, it might look real pretty in colorado at the moment. but it is about to get ugly. the snow, ice, freezing rain and extreme cold barrels eastward making trouble from texas all the way to new england. find out what is coming your way and soon. also this hour, 911 equals from the newtown school shooting about to go public. why now? and what will